Warning Signs
by elleigator
Summary: Dom's been through it, he recognises the little signs. But will Chloe accept his help before it's too late? My interpretation of the Evan/Chloe storyline. TW for themes of domestic abuse, self harm, graphic violence.
1. Chapter 1

She has to be careful now.

She always had to, it was stupid to relax even for a moment, a day, a week. But now, now she's reminded. Starkly, painfully. She has to be careful.

Mistakes are costly. Cost seconds, relationships, lives. No mistakes twice, she had lived and breathed it for years - years of mistakes disguised as righteousness. But of course, of course, she's stupid. Let herself fall again for soft words and sweet promises. For an instant, a toxic instant, Evan looked young and in love and full of shining potential again.

She has never wanted to hurt herself like this before.

_(That's a lie, she's a filthy liar, she has the scars to prove it but she still plays pretend like she's invulnerable, like her shoulders don't ache from the beams of her own burning house crashing down.)_

She's never felt like this while she was in control. And she is very, very good at keeping control. One tablet, once a day, keeps her sane. It's all she has now, this say over her own life. When it isn't bitterly ironic and threatening to eat her alive, he revels in freedom of thought and unbound limbs. Mum- she couldn't trust Ange. She lied to you, remember? She lied.

Now, though, now she imagines she can feel blisters bursting across her palms, inflicted by the curling iron in her hand. Maybe it would make her feel better. Pain, at least, makes sense.

But no. People would see it, and she can't have that. She pulls her shirt up temptingly. Her skin is so white and pale, and the voice in her head is only getting louder. And suddenly, before she knows it, her skin is searing with a white hot pain and in such a twisted way she loves it. It takes her whole body to wrench the curler off her stomach, and she sits there panting. All of a sudden, she's numb again.

The door creaks open and Evan comes around the corner. She's sitting on the edge of the bed, head reeling, hand pressed over her new wound.

"What the hell are you doing?" His voice is low. She knows what this means.

"Chloe? Lift up your hand. What did you do?" His voice is calm, so calm, too calm. She takes her hand away and breaks eye contact, concentrating on the way the closet door flutters open and closed in the breeze.

"Why would you do that? Jesus Christ, Chloe, you're not a kid anymore. Grow the fuck up." He walks over to her, one hand on her shoulder and the other on her hair. He pulls, she winces, he punches and all of a sudden she's gasping again. He's winded her, and she collapses backwards onto the bed, pulling her knees to her chest and rolling onto her side.

"Think twice, next time." And he leaves.

There will be a next time.

—-

"What happened to your stomach?" Dom asks, seeing her out of the corner of the mirror in his locker.

"Nothing." She pulls her scrub top down quickly, tying her hair into a ponytail and pushing her feet into her work shoes. As she opens the door to leave the locker room, Dom steps forward to catch her arm.

"Chloe, are-are you okay?" Gently, he turns her around to face himself, looking at her with concern.

_He knows. They all know. You can't even lie properly, stupid girl. Stupid girl._

"Why do you care?" She avoids eye contact, staring instead at the posters on the wall behind him.

"Chloe," He says, quirking his head to the side. "I'm your big brother. Of course I care." His thumb rubs circles on her arm.

For a moment, a few fleeting seconds, he thinks she's going to tell him. She thinks she might tell him, too, until she's brought back down to earth with a sharp knock at the door.

"Chloe, you ready to go?" It's Evan, and he looks pissed. She wants nothing more than to stay with Dom, sweet soft caring Dom, but God knows what he'll do to her. So she returns Evan's tight lipped smile, casting her eyes to the floor, and on her way out, Dom catches her last words.

"I'm fine."

—

Dom has to stand outside his Mum's office door for several minutes until he gathers the courage to knock.

"Can I have a word?" Opening the door, he sees Ange hunched over paperwork at her desk.

"Sure. What's up?" She looks up, resting her chin on top of her hands.

"Have you noticed anything off about chloe lately?" He walks into the room, sitting on her sofa and crossing his legs as she swivels in her chair to face him.

"In what way?" Her eyebrows furrow.

"Has she seemed distant, or not herself?" He is twisting his hands around each other, rubbing his fingernails with his fingers.

"Yeah, but I'm not surprised. Why? Is everything okay? Ange has a growing look of concern spreading over her face.

"I honestly don't know."

Ange stands up and walks to the other side of the desk, leaning against it and folding her arms.

"Talk to me." She surveys him with a quirked head.

"I think, maybe something's going on with her and Evan." He finally looks up at her, making eye contact.

"When is something not going on with her and Evan?" Ange smiles and shrugs her shoulders.

"No, seriously. We were getting changed this morning and as she was pulling her top down, I saw her stomach. She had a burn dressing over part of it, and then her ribcage was bruised, too. It looked dark."

"What?" Ange's laughter is suddenly replaced with a frightened expression.

"And then a few days ago, she had bruises on her arms as well. Handprints, almost. As if someone had been holding her down."

"You think Evan is throwing her around?"

"I don't know what to think." He shrugs, focusing his eyes on her potted plant.

"Thanks, Dom. I'll try and have a word. She still won't speak to me though, not properly." Ange rubs her eyes tiredly.

"I'm sorry." Dom sighs. Everything is such a mess.

Ange just shakes her head.


	2. Chapter 2

**I know, I'm updating this a month after publishing it! Im just as shocked as you are. But Chapter three is prewritten and I just have to finish it off, it should be up on Monday! **

The morning after their conversation, Ange sat staring at the ward when she noticed a flash of navy blue walk past.

"Hey. Can we talk?" Ange asked as Chloe passed the nurses station. The younger woman paused for a moment in order to pick up some files.

"Chloe, you can't run away forever. I'm your mother." Ange said gently. However, Chloe didn't even acknowledge her and walked straight on, files in hand.

"And there she goes." Ange sighed to no one in particular. Dom looked up sympathetically.

"Do you want me to try?" He offered.

"Go for it. I'm not sure how much more damage we can do at this point." Ange let out a bitter laugh, waving her hand towards the doors Chloe had just walked out of, before sitting down at the computer again. Dom nodded and braced himself, following Chloe through the double doors and into the locker room. She was sat on a bench in the locker room, staring at her phone, which now had a large crack running down the middle. Dom was sure it hadn't been there when she was showing him photos of her holiday last week, but decided not to comment. He closed the door behind him and walked in nervously, wondering if she would acknowledge him, but she made no effort to.

"Hey." Dom ventured, settling himself on the bench beside her. However, she got up immediately, shaking her head and moving towards her locker.

"Chloe, please." He gently grabbed her arm as she brushed past him, and her head snapped around immediately.

"Dominic, stop. You're making this so much harder than it has to be." Her voice was small and not weak, but tired.

"How? What can I do to make it easier?" Dom asked desperately.

"Leave me alone, for a start!" Chloe slammed her locker shut, reaching back to the bench for her jacket.

"Chloe, please. Can we just talk?" Dom pleaded. Chloe slowed at this, still facing the wall, picking the lint off her jacket.

"He says it's not good for me." Her voice was quiet.

"Who says what's not good for you?" Dom pried, afraid that he was pushing too far. Chloe did not reply, seemingly lost in her own thoughts all of a sudden.

"Is everything okay, Chloe?"

"Yes." She replied automatically, the answer programmed into her brain.

"Are you okay, Chloe?" Dom repeated tentatively.

"I just said yes!" Chloe was growing exasperated, both with herself and with Dom.

"Chloe, listen to me. Are you okay?" Dom's words echoed around the room, hanging in the air. Chloe looked up at him slowly, until their eyes finally met and Chloe cracked.

"No. No, no, no, I'm not okay. Not okay." She reached for her hair, running her fingers through it anxiously. A few tears spilled over, which led to more and more falling down her cheeks.

"It's alright, I've got you. You'll be okay." Dom reached to put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to himself.

"Hey, I'm here. I've got you. Just talk to me Chlo. What's going on in your head?" He asked, stroking her hair.

"I don't know." She replied, still shaking.

"What's going on with Evan?" Dom murmured quietly.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Chloe's voice was suddenly sharp, and she pulled herself away from him.

"Chloe, please, I can tell. What's going on with you and him?" Dom asked.

"I can't tell you." Chloe turned away, staring at the lockers.

"You can tell me anything." Said Dom softly, placing his hand over her's.

"No. I can't." Chloe shook her head.

"Why not?" Dom persisted, unwilling to give up.

"Chloe, say it. Whatever it is, we'll make this work, okay?" He insisted. Slowly, Chloe turned back around to look him in the eyes.

"He hit me." She said. Her voice was so quiet he couldn't be sure he heard correctly, but when she started crying again, he realised that he was right.

"Come here." He pulled her closer, rubbing his hands on her back comfortingly.

"He hit me." She sobbed again, letting herself relive the night before.

"I know." Dom said calmly.

"Chloe, this isn't your fault, you know that, right? It's not your fault." He repeated, trying to comfort her in the way he wished someone had held him a few years earlier.

"Whose fault is it, then?" Chloe asked, pulling away and drying her eyes with her sleeve.

"His. You've done nothing to deserve this." Dom replied convincingly.

"Yes, I have! I'm a monster, you know that! This is karma, this is what I deserve." Chloe's voice got higher and higher, threatening to crack.

"No! No, it's not, of course it's not, nobody deserves this." Dom tried to insist, taking both of her hands into his own and staring into her eyes.

"Don't they?" Chloe tipped her head onto the side and stared right back at him. When she realised what he was thinking, she pulled her hands away.

"Don't say anything. Don't you dare. I'll sort it out." Her voice was suddenly low, and she reminded Dom so much of Ange in this moment.

"Chloe." He begged. He couldn't just walk out on her now.

"No, Dom. This happens on my own terms. Don't." Chloe repeated.

"Chloe, I can't just leave you like this! I can't just leave you with him, knowing what I know!" Dom said, his voice rising.

"Dom, I'll tell him I'm leaving. I'll tell him tonight. I'll call him this evening and tell him I'm staying at Mum's, and I'm not coming back. But I need to do this myself, please."

Dom realised that he wasn't going to get anywhere, and nodded unwillingly. He watched her stand up, stretch her back and give him a forlorn smile, and then walk out.

—

"How's Chloe doing?" Dom asked, swinging his bag from his shoulders and leaning against the desk. He had just arrived for the morning shift, still feeling uneasy about Chloe. Ange was sat in the office chair, copying down something from the computer onto paper.

"I wouldn't know. She's still not speaking to me." She shook her head, still staring at the screen.

"Didn't she call you last night?" Dom furrowed his eyebrows. She had promised him she'd call her.

"No. I haven't heard anything from her all day, actually." Ange replied, not sure why Dom was quizzing her like this.

"Why? Did she say she was going to call?" She asked, clarifying.

"That's what she told me."

"Maybe she forgot. I've got a meeting upstairs, but I'll go by Darwin on my way back later, try and have a word."

Dom nodded, and watched her collect up her notes and leave. There was just something off about this whole situation. She said she would call Ange- and now nobody has heard from her all day? Something definitely wasn't right.

—

About a half hour later, Dom stood by the nurses station on Darwin, signing off on a surgery referral. He was still perplexed and very worried by the Chloe situation, but was going to try and catch Nicky or Cam on their ward rounds. Finally, Nicky emerged from a bay and walked over to the nurse's station, smiling at Dom.

"Nicky, have you seen Chloe recently?" He asked before she could say anything. She was surprised by his bluntness and the odd question, but did her best to think back.

"Not since last night, no. I was coming up from the lab and she was on her way to the basement. She didn't come home, though, so I figured she was covering a night shift." Nicky smiled, placing down a file and picking up the next one in the pile.

"The basement?" Domquestioned.

"She sometimes goes to see Jason, I didn't think anything of it. Why? Has something happened?" Nicky's expression turned to one of concern as she realised Dom was worried, not just curious.

"I'm not sure. Let me know if she gets in touch with you." Dom said.

Nicky smiled at him and nodded in comfirmation, confused but knowing that Dom must mean well. He turned away from her, making his way into the lift. He was more bewildered than ever, but also scared. The basement was where she had been seen last- maybe if he went down there, Jason would be able to tell him something? He pressed the button for the ground floor, thinking that if he walked part of the way he'd have a better chance of catching Jason.

The lift ride seemed to last years, but when he finally got to the ground floor and made his way to the first flight of stairs down, he noticed the sinister silence that surrounded him. There was no noise, just the background buzz of the vents, and it seemed to be trying to tell him something.


	3. Chapter 3

**Trigger warning- this chapter contains graphic (GRAPHIC) descriptions of violence and it's effects.**

As Dom made his way down the stairs to the basement, he noticed a glint on the floor. Moving closer, he realised it was a phone, and he picked it up. Turning it over, it became clear that it was Chloe's phone with the pink watermelon phone case, which meant he was on the right track. Maybe she had dropped it here last night? He walked down the corridor, opening each door in turn and peering inside, but nothing. Finally, he reached the last door on the corridor, his last hope. He paused for a second, listening for a telltale noise, but all he could hear was the buzz of the vents.

Slowly, he pushed open the door and stepped inside, but flattened himself to the wall immediately.

A scrub shirt lay on the floor, blood spattered around it. Chloe was pressed against the opposite wall, one of Evan's forearms trapping her neck and the other hand squeezing her hip, the knife glinting dangerously close to her stomach. Her head was twisted to the side at an awkward angle, her feet barely grazing the floor. Dom held up his hands immediately in a surrendering position, making eye contact with Evan.

"You need to let her go." Dom said, trying to sound calm. Chloe twisted her neck a little, struggling against her barricade, but was quickly knocked silent by a swift punch colliding with her jaw. Her head lolled to one side, her eyes flickering shut.

"Why? Why should I? So you can go and call the police on me?" Evan burst out, his voice loud and harsh, spit spraying all over Chloe's face. Her scrub bottoms were bundled halfway down her legs, underwear haphazardly pulled up in a forlorn attempt to conceal some of her decency.

"Come on, if you let her go now, nothing more has to come of this." Dom repeated calmly, stepping slowly towards the pair as Chloe regained some sort of consciousness. However, as soon as Dom's foot hit the floor, the attacker grabbed Chloe's side possessively, pressing the knife precariously close to her pale skin. His calloused fingers dub into her soft skin, leaving purple bruises in their aftermath.

"I told you not to fucking move!" Evan screeched, dragging the knife over Chloe's abdomen, making her let out a small shriek of pain. Blood formed a straight red line, trickling down to the drawstrings of her scrubs, which were still down to her knees.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll stay still, don't hurt her." Dom pleaded, keeping his hands in the air.

"Still trying to play happy families? Or no? If not, you're only half siblings, right? She's a good fuck." He leered at Chloe, his mouth coming close to her bruised jaw as she strained away from him.

"What, you didn't want it, you fucking slut?" The man shouted angrily as Chloe leaned away from him. He raised the arm holding her neck to yank on her short blonde hair, collecting it into his fist before pulling back, making her gasp. The other hand threw a punch at her collarbone, his knuckles hitting her delicate white skin and turning it red immediately.

"Tried to fight it and everything." Evan laughed menacingly, taunting Dom, who was scared witless but trying to look calm. Chloe let out a small sob, her head pulled back at an uncomfortable angle, Evan right up in her face. Suddenly, he let her wrists go, and instead brought his hand to hit her behind, making her wince. He reached roughly for her hands again, pinning them above her head and using his boot to kick her trousers all the way down her legs, so they pooled at her feet, leaving her only in her underwear, her bra straps pulled down but still on. He made sure to look Dom right in the eye as he punctured her translucent skin for the second time, making a longer and deeper cut from her ribcage down to her hips. Chloe yelped in pain, her eyes rolling back in her head and her legs going limp.

However, they were all brought back to reality when the sound of the door to the basement lab being yanked back aggressively punctured the tense silence.

"What is going on he-" Hanssen's words trailed out of his mouth. He was met by an extremely disturbing scene: one of his best junior doctors, practically naked, pushed up against a wall bleeding, one of his consultants holding a knife to her stomach and Dominic staring at them both with pure terror in his eyes.

"Don't fucking move or I take the pretty girl again." The man threatened, brandishing the knife in Hanssen's direction. He went silent instantly, holding up his hands just like Dominic did in surrender. Chloe's head was slouched onto her shoulder and her legs were limp beneath her, the sheer strength of Evan's forearm holding her up, so she was clearly still unconscious. A mottled blue and purple bruise was already forming on her jaw, which probably needed an x-ray.

"You need to let her go." Hanssen said as calmly as he could, inching forwards. "I've already alerted the police that you're down here."

"Don't fucking tell me what to do!" Evan yelled, tracing the knife through Chloe's exposed abdomen once more. He was running out of options, though, and both men could sense that. Dom could see Chloe slowly blinking, wincing in pain, and his eyes couldn't help but realise she had a steady stream of blood trickling down her inner thighs.

"Please, look at her. She needs help. She could die, you would get life in prison." Dom tried to reason with Evan, who had slowly lowered his scalpel, and suddenly seemed much more aware of his surroundings. He lowered the arm that pinned Chloe to the wall, allowing her to crumple to the ground. She let out a low moan as she collapsed into a foetal position, blood still streaming down her legs, in too much pain to think clearly. Evan just seemed a little bemused by the whole situation now, and he walked slowly towards Hanssen, avoiding eye contact but offering him the knife. As soon as it was handed over, Hanssen tossed it to the ground again, grabbing the man by the forearms and pinning them behind him.

Dom rushed forward onto his knees towards Chloe, unzipping his NHS jacket and wrapping it around her, trying to conceal some of her dignity. She flinched when he touched her but opened her eyes, realising it was him and silently taking his hand in hers. She squeezed it, maybe because of pain, maybe to let him know that she was still alive. A lone tear tricked down her bruised cheek and onto the cold stone floor. Before Dom knew it, Chloe's body was racked with sobs, shaking and shaking, but worryingly, her underwear was still seeping with blood. He stroked her hair with one hand, brushing it behind her ear again and again, a silent comforter.

"Someone call my mum, please." Chloe's voice was barely audible, so quiet and croaky and broken.

"You're going to be alright." Dom stroked her forehead as he spoke, Chloe still shaking. Gently, he hooked an arm under her neck and another under her knees, before standing slowly and adjusting to her weight. She was light but he didn't want to hurt her, so he handled her precariously, but holding her as close to him as he could at the same time. He opened the door with his foot, making his way down the corridor as quickly as he could, and taking the stairs two at a time on his way up to AAU. He used one hand to punch in the PIN code while trying to keep Chloe from moving too much, and all eyes were on him as he broke onto the ward.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell happened?" Xavier's eyes widened at the sight of Dom, with an almost naked Chloe in his arms, blood dripping onto the floor.

"I think maybe it's better to have Serena on this case." Dom spoke respectfully, and Zavier nodded. Donna rushed up with a blanket, trying the swallow her mothering instinct, and receiving a faint smile from Chloe as she draped it over her.

"It was a- a sexual assault, with multiple shallow knife wounds. She's been bleeding steadily for the past ten minutes, I think that's the main concern. I think he broke her jaw too, said she put up a fight." Dom's words were quiet and shocked and regretful.

"Get her FBCs, U&Es, and lets-let's ask about a rape kit. I'll go and find Serena." Xavier added the last part in a quieter voice. Dom nodded, placing Chloe gently on the bed Donna had brought, watching her turn to face away from them all. She was awake, eyes wide open, but just letting the tears stream out without words. He followed the bed through a few sets of doors, until they reached a side room Dom vaguely remembered.

"Chloe?" Dom asked softly, but she made no recognition of his voice, and he blinked back on his own tears.

"I think your Mum is in a meeting. It'll be faster for me to go and find her, is it okay?" Dom bent to knees by the side of her bed, making cautious eye contact. He wasn't sure she could see, she was crying so much, but she was silent as she cried. He reached up to hold her hand and took her small one in his larger palm. This was his sister, who lay here. He watched and let some man touch his sister.

"Don't go. Call her." Chloe's voice was a whisper, coming in and out of focus. She was squeezing Dom's hand again now, whether because of pain or just comfort.

"Okay, I'll ask Donna to." Dom was crouched by her head, her hand in one hand, and stroking her hair gently with the other. Donna re-entered the room with a box and a set of syringes.

"Chloe? Serena was in the same meeting as your mum. They're both coming down now. On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad is the pain?" Donna's voice was gentle, but Chloe made no recognition. If she could hear her, she wasn't showing it.

"Chloe? How bad is the pain? And where?" Dom asked her cautiously, still playing with her hair.

"Bad. Inside." Chloe gritted her teeth, wincing with the pain,

"Chloe, I have to ask you this. It's completely fine, whatever you answer." Donna's voice was slow and easy to listen to, Chloe gave a nod at the end.

"Do you need us to do a rape kit?" The space of time between Donna's question and Chloe's answer was long, too long. The empty space where one could only hear the whirring of the air vents, the quiet beeping of the heart monitor machine they had attached to her finger. And this empty silence was almost better than Chloe's heartbreaking nod, and the way she brought Dom's hand up to her face, pressing it against her mouth.

"You're going to be okay. It's all going to be okay." He comforted her instantly, feeling so helpless as the tears streamed down her face. He should have done something earlier, should have listened to his instinct.

"Chloe, would you prefer to do it now? Or wait until your Mum gets here?" Donna asked quietly.

"Wait for Mum."

After a few moments of silence, a crash hit the room, making everyone jump.

"Chloe!" Ange burst through the door, Serena right behind her. She was wearing her collared shirt and trousers, or as Chloe fondly called them 'unslutty meeting' clothes. She rushed to Chloe, shocked and afraid.

"Oh my god, what happened? Who did this?"

"It was Evan." Dom said in a low voice behind them.

"Jesus Christ, I am going to-" Ange's sentence was cut off when she realised Chloe was whimpering quietly on the bed right in front of her.

"Sweetheart, come here. Oh, babygirl. Mum's here. Mummy's here. It's going to be okay." Ange knelt down beside the bed, collecting her daughter into her arms. Chloe was limp, just melting into her mother and continuing to cry.

"Mum," She let out, in between sobs.

"I'm here. I've got you, you're safe." Ange reassured her, holding her tightly against herself.

Ange was murmuring in her ear, words so quiet they were unintelligible to the rest of the room, but were obviously of comfort to Chloe. She placed gentle kisses on her daughter's forehead, letting Chloe cling to her and shake. Donna and Serena watched them sadly, but Dom was staring out of the window. A police car had just pulled up outside and he saw several officers get out and head towards reception. Without saying anything, he left, and made for the stairs. Serena's eyes followed him out of the room, suspicious but more concerned about the girl in front of her. She could see the bruise on her collarbone swelling, and the blood was still seeping.

"Chloe, we really need to make a start." Serena's voice was factual but kind, and Ange met her eyes from over Chloe's shoulder. She held her daughter gently by the arms and pulled them apart, just enough to look at her.

"Ready? I'll be here the whole time, I promise. I'm not going anywhere." Ange said quietly, brushing Chloe's hair from her eyes. She gave her a wobbly nod in reply, still quivering but trusting her mother enough to do this. Her mum would never lie to her again.


End file.
